Introducing Infinity

Download or read book Introducing Infinity written by Brian Clegg and published by Icon Books Ltd. This book was released on 2014-12-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infinity is a profoundly counter-intuitive and brain-twisting subject that has inspired some great thinkers – and provoked and shocked others. The ancient Greeks were so horrified by the implications of an endless number that they drowned the man who gave away the secret. And a German mathematician was driven mad by the repercussions of his discovery of transfinite numbers. Brian Clegg and Oliver Pugh's brilliant graphic tour of infinity features a cast of characters ranging from Archimedes and Pythagoras to al-Khwarizmi, Fibonacci, Galileo, Newton, Leibniz, Cantor, Venn, Gödel and Mandelbrot, and shows how infinity has challenged the finest minds of science and mathematics. Prepare to enter a world of paradox.

Download or read book Introducing Epigenetics written by Cath Ennis and published by Icon Books Ltd. This book was released on 2017-02-02 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Epigenetics is the most exciting field in biology today, developing our understanding of how and why we inherit certain traits, develop diseases and age, and evolve as a species. This non-fiction comic book introduces us to genetics, cell biology and the fascinating science of epigenetics, which is rapidly filling in the gaps in our knowledge, allowing us to make huge advances in medicine. We'll look at what identical twins can teach us about the epigenetic effects of our environment and experiences, why certain genes are 'switched on' or off at various stages of embryonic development, and how scientists have reversed the specialization of cells to clone frogs from a single gut cell. In Introducing Epigenetics, Cath Ennis and Oliver Pugh pull apart the double helix, examining how the epigenetic building blocks and messengers that interpret and edit our genes help to make us, well, us.

Download or read book Introducing Particle Physics written by Tom Whyntie and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2014-06-05 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What really happens at the most fundamental levels of nature? Introducing Particle Physics explores the very frontiers of our knowledge, even showing how particle physicists are now using theory and experiment to probe our very concept of what is real. From the earliest history of the atomic theory through to supersymmetry, micro-black holes, dark matter, the Higgs boson, and the possibly mythical graviton, practising physicist and CERN contributor Tom Whyntie gives us a mind-expanding tour of cutting-edge science. Featuring brilliant illustrations from Oliver Pugh, Introducing Particle Physics is a unique tour through the most astonishing and challenging science being undertaken today.

Download or read book A Brief History of Infinity written by Brian Clegg and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.' Douglas Adams, Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy We human beings have trouble with infinity - yet infinity is a surprisingly human subject. Philosophers and mathematicians have gone mad contemplating its nature and complexity - yet it is a concept routinely used by schoolchildren. Exploring the infinite is a journey into paradox. Here is a quantity that turns arithmetic on its head, making it feasible that 1 = 0. Here is a concept that enables us to cram as many extra guests as we like into an already full hotel. Most bizarrely of all, it is quite easy to show that there must be something bigger than infinity - when it surely should be the biggest thing that could possibly be. Brian Clegg takes us on a fascinating tour of that borderland between the extremely large and the ultimate that takes us from Archimedes, counting the grains of sand that would fill the universe, to the latest theories on the physical reality of the infinite. Full of unexpected delights, whether St Augustine contemplating the nature of creation, Newton and Leibniz battling over ownership of calculus, or Cantor struggling to publicise his vision of the transfinite, infinity's fascination is in the way it brings together the everyday and the extraordinary, prosaic daily life and the esoteric. Whether your interest in infinity is mathematical, philosophical, spiritual or just plain curious, this accessible book offers a stimulating and entertaining read.

Download or read book Introducing Philosophy of Mathematics written by Michele Friend and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is mathematics about? Does the subject-matter of mathematics exist independently of the mind or are they mental constructions? How do we know mathematics? Is mathematical knowledge logical knowledge? And how is mathematics applied to the material world? In this introduction to the philosophy of mathematics, Michele Friend examines these and other ontological and epistemological problems raised by the content and practice of mathematics. Aimed at a readership with limited proficiency in mathematics but with some experience of formal logic it seeks to strike a balance between conceptual accessibility and correct representation of the issues. Friend examines the standard theories of mathematics - Platonism, realism, logicism, formalism, constructivism and structuralism - as well as some less standard theories such as psychologism, fictionalism and Meinongian philosophy of mathematics. In each case Friend explains what characterises the position and where the divisions between them lie, including some of the arguments in favour and against each. This book also explores particular questions that occupy present-day philosophers and mathematicians such as the problem of infinity, mathematical intuition and the relationship, if any, between the philosophy of mathematics and the practice of mathematics. Taking in the canonical ideas of Aristotle, Kant, Frege and Whitehead and Russell as well as the challenging and innovative work of recent philosophers like Benacerraf, Hellman, Maddy and Shapiro, Friend provides a balanced and accessible introduction suitable for upper-level undergraduate courses and the non-specialist.

Download or read book Abstraction and Infinity written by Paolo Mancosu and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mancosu offers an original investigation of key notions in mathematics: abstraction and infinity, and their interaction. He gives a historical analysis of the theorizing of definitions by abstraction, and explores a novel approach to measuring the size of infinite sets, showing how this leads to deep mathematical and philosophical problems.

Download or read book The Infinity Option written by Howard Prager and published by American Book Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: